This photo is the masonry foundation repair of the front wall of a 45 year old house. It is one of many techniques that can be used for such a repair.

The masonry foundation had been suffering from horizontal cracking.

Around here a big factor contributing to this problem are expansive clay soils. Certainly soil/water pressure is the culprit, but clay soils can shrink when very dry and then, when wetted, can expand with greater force than normal.

Such force works on these walls, over time and even quickly!

When it happens, and if there has been enough movement, a structural engineer should get involved.

And one certainly got involved here!

This engineer's solution was one of many, and involved installing small, steel I-beams against a foundation wall that was pushed back into a plumb condition.

This is one of about six such posts used to gird up the structure.

They continue every six feet or so from this one toward the left.

I could detect no bulging in that wall!

Each of these posts is anchored between floor joists to become a part of the structure of the house.

And they extend below the floor slab, deeply enough to have their own secure anchor there, to be filled in with a new slab at the entry point.

It is extremely strong.

Of course, outside more work has to be done to divert water and soil pressure off of the foundation wall.

Together these two solutions provide a peace of mind that future foundation problems will not be an issue. This seller was able to provide the engineer's solution recommendations, final report and the County approval. Getting and reviewing all that paper work, my clients were very satisfied.

My recommendation: when you see something like this don't be upset! It obviously indicates a professional, and probably permanent, solution to a previous problem. And of course, any information or paper work the seller can provide is extremely useful.

Comments

Wow, enginneer and county paperwork and an adequate repairs for a structural problem around here would be about as common as seeing a flying cow. Usually 2 x 4's, fastened with drywall screws, is what I see around here for horizontal cracks and "structural repairs". Another popular method around here is injecting spray foam in the cracks to help shore things up. Whatever the case, the homeowner usually states its been fine for 20 yrs. that they've lived there :)

Posted by Joshua Frederick, Home Inspector in Defiance & all of Northwest Ohio (Home Inspector for ASPEC Residential Services, LLC) about 7 years ago

Makes me happy we don't have basement walls to deal with around here-one less problem anyway:)

jay, haven't seen any of these but i have found that structural engineers have solved many problems for me and things i didn't know could be fixed can with a foundation...we have many basements here ..in fact it is a must.

I've seen similar repairs in this area too. One property I sold they anchored a double-stacked 2X6 plate to the floor, and then they built a 2X6 wall with double-stacked 2X6 about every 6 feet. They were also bolted to the floor joists above. It was a pretty substantial, and it seemed to keep the walls in place. It was nice for my buyer. She didn't have to frame out the basement. 8-)

Lucky where I do business here is California we do not run into this type of issue. But looking to expand to other areas that have basement thank you for letting me know what to look out for in an appraisal

A buyer who see's this blog who is thinking of buying a home that has these steel posts in the basement I think will feel much more comfortable with their potential purchase now that they know why they are there and what they are doing.

One time I said to a buyer... "don't be upset! It obviously indicates a professional, and probably permanent, solution to a previous problem."

I can not remember what the disclosure said about the repairs to the basement walls. We had seen walls in a number of this model throughout the neighborhood that had cracking on this wall (not the wall that usually has this crack at the frostline in our market with it's heavy clay soil.)

WRONG... the builder (original builder) did the beams and they were not fastened correctly. As I recall the problem was Each of these posts is WAS NOT anchored between floor joists to become a part of the structure of the house.

Her home inspector (an engineer) caught it and prescribed the fix that would make the beams become a part of the structure of the house. We negotiated for the sellers to pay for the beams to be installed correctly.

No seriously most buyers run at the sound of foundation repairs, even when repaired. We have a short sale right now on the market that buyers won't touch because it has some slight foundation issues and instead of getting a foundation report to give to potential buyers, the listing agent just notes "some possible foundation issues" in MLS.